BFK

Every time statistics come up in any discussion I think of this quote (by Mark Twain I believe): "There are 3 kinds of lies - Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics." I think statistics in the case of skydiving can lull people into a false sense of security. Statistics might appease the family to a certain degree. But positive and smart choices along with a healthy dose of self-discipline is what will save your life. I feel that driving is inherintly safer than skydiving. When I skydive, no matter how basic the skydive is, there is still a very real risk which is mitigated by preperation and education. But if I drive my 8 year old cousin to his baseball game at the park down the street, the risk is different than if I drive home drunk at 90mph on the freeway. The realm of risk varies greatly with driving. With skydiving the risks are more constant and less yielding. Statistically the odds may be 1 death in 100,000 jumps. But I think the guy who goes freeflying on a Wonderhog which was packed by his bitter X-girlfriend has a higher chance of dying than the diligent rookie who learns all he can about everything and makes smart choices on every skydive. Just my opinion though. This much is true-- Life has a 100% fatality rate. Skydiving does not. Skydiving is safer than life. Brad

Action Air Parachutes has great service both during and after you purchase gear. In addition they offer good deals. www.actionair.com Brad

Skydiving is not safer than driving. I used to think that too. But look at the numbers- Every year, about 40,000 people are killed in Auto accidents. Assuming that there are 200,000,000 drivers in the USA (a generous estimate) then that means that 1 driver out of 5000 drivers a year is killed in an auto accident. Compared to one skydiver per ever thousand skydivers that is killed every year. That makes skydiving 5 times more dangerous than driving. However skydiving is safer than SCUBA (statistically speaking). I compare the risks of skydiving most closely to those of driving a motorcycle. Skydiving is dangerous. But so is life. Brad

I asked Glenn Bangs, the former director of Safety and Training at USPA about RSL's a year or so ago. He told me that he himself wears one and will continue to do so. He related to me a story of his in which he had a highly spinning malfunction during a jump in which deployment was initiated around 2000 feet. He reached down to grab the cutaway and reserve handle and found that he could only grab the cutaway handle. The spinning malfunction caused his harness to shift which put his cutaway handle near the center of his chest and pinned his reserve handle behind his back where he could not reach it. All he could do was cutaway, which he did initiate at 1200 feet. Before he could continue struggling to grasp the pinned reserve handle, his RSL fired his reserve. He told me then that without the RSL it is likely he wouldn't have survived. Personally, I will use an RSL until I have between 750 and 1000 skydives. At that point I will reconsider my air awareness, malfunction handling and opinion on the RSL. For now I think it is a good safety net. Of course - It shouldn't be used (or should be disconnected) when flying camera, doing CReW, skysurfing, when cutting away from a dual squares situation, or in the event of a canopy collision which requires a cutaway. If I ever do remove the RSL, I will never pull below 3000 feet. I'll want that extra time to find my reserve handle should I ever find myself in the situation Glenn Bangs experienced. Brad

Hey Donna, I'm getting a Spectre 170 for my main and a PD reserve 160 or 176, depending on what will fit best in the container. I've heard universally that Spectre has very soft openings and is possibly the most forgiving canopy on the market. I didn't want anything other than the canopies most likely to cause me the least problems. I weigh 165 without gear if you were wondering about wing loading. Brad PS Thanks to everyone for great advice and information about the rigs. I really appreciate your opinions!

>The Voodoo by Rigging Innovations is also Tested to TSO >C-23D What does this mean? I hear a lot about TSO, but I don't know what it means. Does this mean the VOODOO is tested to higher deployment speeds? Brad

Okay, I checked out the Wings website and now I am VERY confused. Is there anything about the Vector, Wings or Mirage that makes ANY of those choices better than another??? Brad

Is Wings the same quality material as the Mirage or the Vector?? Does it have the same protection and retention of everything?? Brad

I've settled on what I am choosing for a main, reserve and of course a Cypres. But I am really struggling with what to get for a container. I will spare no expense when it comes to a container. I want the container that is the safest for all types of flight (freefly, freestyle, etc.). I think the safest is probably the Vector 3 or the Mirage G3. Does anyone have any reason why one of these is safer/better than the other?? Or is it a toss up?? I want to feel comfortable going head down or standing, or jumping in groups. I really appreciate any advice on this. Brad

Thanks for all the nice replies! I'll be sure to pass them on to Marie. She may be a skydiver one day too. MAYBE. Thanks again, Brad

The story I wrote about how I proposed to my girlfriend got published in the local papers of the east bay area (Northern California). They even published a picture from the skydive. You can read the story (minus the picture) at: http://www.contracostatimes.com/timeout/stories_feattop/x7celebrate_20010407.htm Thanks again Skydance and thanks a million Tim (who filmed it)! Brad Koch

I think a lot of skydivers smoke for the same reason that a lot of skydivers like to drink a lot. Skydiving attracts people that live full tilt and for some that means smoking cigarettes or pot or consuming large amounts of alcohol. All those things can damage and kill, but freedom of choice is what skydiving is all about. People should be permitted to live however they want to live. In the end everyone dies eventually, what we do between now and then is our choice. Smoking, drinking, drugs and all that is a philisophical choice about how you want to live and what risks you want to take. There may be addictive issues as well. I don't smoke anymore and I am trying to drink less. I have seen people die from both. I am trying to widdle down the risks I take to include only skydiving, whitewater rafting and foreign travel. Those highs don't leave hangovers and enhance my life, whereas other things can tend to detract from life, in my personal experience. To each their own though. Brad

If I'm not mistaken, Bill Dause, the owner of the parachute center in Lodi, has over 30,000 jumps. Brad

Thanks for the advice. It's funny because I do look at things in jump numbers sometimes. I was going to go whitewater rafting with a bunch of friends, but cancelled when I realized that it cost about 10 jumps tickets for the trip. Same goes for a ski weekend in which I went up to Tahoe, but didn't ski to save money. I think some of you might be saving money for 6-8 month jump seasons. But being from California (temporarily) I need to save for a 12 month jump season. I can't imagine being able to do 40 jumps a month! That would be great. Another consideration is that I am combining my money with my Fiancee's, so technically half of the money either of us spend is coming from the other person. She is very cool about skydiving though. I think I could talk her into 20 jumps a month when I own my own gear again (I had to sell my original set to pay a retroactive student loan bill that I had let slide). On rental gear it will be tough, but I will try and get off rental gear as soon as I can. I would like to say that I feel very lucky to have met such a wonderful girl that actually likes paying for half of my skydives because it makes me happy. If that aint love, then I don't know what is. Thanks everyone. Brad Koch

One question that I often wonder about is what is the proper response of an experienced jumper in an aircraft emergency? I remember in student training they told us to "listen to your instructor", but what is the proper response of the experienced skydiver? Say a plane gets to 2500 feet and then the engine dies, the pilot says he's going to try and land it, but you can tell the plane is really pitching. Is it wrong to throw open the door and bail out? After all, we are wearing parachutes. On the other hand, you don't want to risk the lives of people on board by making the aircraft more unstable with the open door. So what are we "allowed" to do if there is an aircraft emergency? I know that under 1000 feet you're at the pilots mercy, but it seems that once you reach 1500 feet or more we should be able to throw open the door and save ourselves. I would like to know what is the "proper" thing to do in this situation. Brad Koch